1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to a method, system and program product for representing a perceptual organization of an image. Specifically, the present invention represents a perceptual organization of an image in information graphics using multiple resolutions/scaling levels.
2. Related Art
The design of information visualization software remains a poorly understood, hit-or-miss process. Part of the difficulty is that models for how humans extract information from visual displays remain incomplete. Indeed, seemingly minor design variations can have dramatic effects on comprehensibility. As a result, creating effective displays often requires expensive user tests, time-consuming redesigns, and even a certain amount of guesswork.
Many researchers have recognized these problems and have investigated guidelines and models for the perception of information graphics. Specifically, much work has been done on the efficacy of different visual encodings, resulting in useful rules about the use of color, position, area, etc. to represent different types of variables. Others, for example, have investigated how models of pre-attentive processing can be used in designing visualizations.
Unfortunately, these lines of research do not address a key element in the efficacy of an information graphic. That is, the degree to which its perceptual organization reflects the organization of the underlying data. Many authors have stressed that to design successful information graphics one must take into account the effects of perceptual grouping. For instance, Kosslyn (1998) contains many examples in which unintentional grouping effects lead to confusing displays. It would therefore be useful to have a tool that helped designers assess the perceptual organization of their designs
Still yet, some attempts have been made to model perceptual organization in information graphics. To this extent, general guidelines, such as the “Macro/Micro” principle have been provided. However, quantitative models suitable for software implementation are rare. Several authors have analyzed special classes of displays: For example, Tullis (1984) analyzes alphanumeric screens; Shneiderman et al. (1995) investigate standard Visual Basic dialog boxes. The work of Saund (1990) on deriving perceptual structure in the context of sketch editing is more ambitious, but still requires a vectorized version of a graphic as input. Because it is not amenable to the analysis of non-vector-based visualizations, it is problematic to apply his method to the output of existing programs.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a method, system and program product for representing a perceptual organization of an image through information graphics. Specifically, a need exists whereby an image can be progressively blurred to form a set of scaling levels. A further need exists for edges of the image on each scaling level to be detected so that segments of the image can be identified. Another need exists for like segments on successive scaling levels to be linked to form the perceptual organization of the image.